1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to floating combined cycle power plants and, more particularly, to a floating combined cycle power plant, which is freely movable at sea and does not require separate flumes for water or adjacent piers, but can efficiently use liquefied natural gas, which is clean fuel.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, power plants comprise equipment for converting thermal energy or mechanical energy into electrical energy, rotate a turbine using an energy source, such as water, oil, coal, natural gas, or nuclear power, and generate electricity using a power generator connected to the turbine. Such power plants have typically been classified into water power plants, steam power plants, nuclear power plants, etc. according both to the kind of energy source used in the power plants and to the power generation method.
Furthermore, tidal power plants, using tidal energy, wind power plants, using wind energy, geothermal power plants, using subterranean heat energy, solar power plants, using solar energy, and magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) power plants, using magneto-hydrodynamic energy, have been actively studied in recent years for practical use thereof as power plants in the future.
However, the above-mentioned power plants are problematic in that it is very difficult to locate the power plant facilities in desirable locations, and the power plants impose a large initial investment on the owners.
For example, in the Korean Peninsula, having three sides surrounded by the sea, most power plants are built at the seaside because the generating fuel, which is coal, petroleum, or liquefied natural gas, which is imported from abroad, can be easily transported, so that the charges for transporting the fuel can be reduced and, furthermore, the large quantity of water that is required to operate the power plants can be easily obtained from the sea.
Furthermore, the locations of the power plants have been determined in consideration of environmental impact assessments, the possibility of disasters based on the geological characteristics of selected districts, the expected impacts of accidents on neighboring industrial facilities or explosive material storage facilities, the supply of fuel and water required to operate the power plants, and the expected power consumption by power consumers using electricity supplied by the power plants.
In recent years, power plants have become recognized as harmful facilities, so it is necessary to pay careful attention to trends of public opinion of local inhabitants or of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), in addition to the conditions at locations. Thus, the determination of the locations of the power plants may be accompanied by further practical limitations.
Furthermore, in the case of a specific district, where a great quantity of electricity must be temporarily used, or of a district under development, which requires a great quantity of electricity, it is necessary to build a new power plant at the district to meet the electricity requirements of the district because there is no alternative plan. However, the installation of a new power plant in such a district must be accompanied by a large investment and takes a lot of time. Furthermore, if the amount of electric power consumption is remarkably reduced, or if the facilities that use the electricity are removed, so that the use of electricity is discontinued, the power plant built in the specific district suffers from economic inefficiency. In an effort to solve the problem, electricity may be supplied to the specific district by extending the existing electric power supply network. However, the extension of the power supply network limits the quantity of electricity that can be supplied to the district.
In an effort to overcome the above-mentioned problems, the inventor of the present invention proposed a floating power plant configured to be freely movable at sea in Korean Patent Appln. No. 2005-36724.
In the floating power plant, proposed by the inventor of the present invention, a plurality of power generating facilities for generating electricity is appropriately and separately installed in watertight chambers defined in a hull having a shape similar to the hull of a conventional ship and is organically interconnected, so that the floating power plant is freely movable at sea.
The floating power plant proposed by the inventor of the present invention uses liquefied fossil fuel, such as crude petroleum oil (Bunker C oil) or Orimulsion, for generating electricity, so that the floating power plant causes environmental pollution due to the use of fossil fuel. Thus, environmental pollution prevention equipment is required to be provided in the floating power plant.
Described in detail, the floating power plant using crude petroleum oil as fuel must be provided with both a denitrification unit and a desulphurization unit for reducing the quantities of nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides, respectively, generated during the combustion of fossil fuel. The power plant also has a plurality of additional facilities to store and handle byproducts produced by both the denitrification unit and the desulphurization unit. The sizes of the facilities to store and handle the byproducts cannot be reduced due to the intrinsic functions thereof.
The additional facilities, which include the denitrification unit, the desulphurization unit and other facilities to store and handle byproducts produced by the units, but are not concerned with the power generating function of the power plant, occupy substantial space in the floating power plant. Therefore, to increase the electricity generation capacity of the floating power plant, the size of the hull must be increased.